Sky-high MSRP? Haven't we moved past this?

50% customs fees? I feel like it is too much. Here in Slovakia it is 8,5% plus VAT.
 
I hadn't considered that mrsp dictates the prices that importers charge, here in the UK. I'd love a Stretch 2, but at the equivalent of 360 USD its never going to happen!
 
I think unfortunately for the UK and some other spots the law of the land has made it very difficult to stock a store with knives and sell them at a price that people feel is fair.

Let's say someone opens a reasonably sized store and wants to have one of every model in the display case. He'll need to lay out the cash for those knives and put them on the shelf. Because the demand is low so they'll be sitting on thousands of dollars of dead inventory because not enough customers want that Stretch.

So what will happen is either the stores won't order the stuff that they know they won't sell in serious volume. Or they'll order everything but sell it at prices way over MSRP to hedge the stuff that doesn't sell. A long established location will have a higher tolerance for sitting on dead stock that the new kid.

It's all supply and demand. The demand is low.
 
We also need to keep in mind that these great prices you see us Americans talk about here is mostly through online dealers (and capitalism :D)... In fact the majority of local physical brick and mortar dealers charge very close to MSRP also. I have read that there is one (uno, 1,) Spyderco importer/dealer for all of Europe. Instead of blaming it all on MSRP, perhaps you can blame it on lack of competition and demand as well. Import tax in not Spyderco's fault either (no one claim it is, but I just want to address it)...It's not our faut that our country doesn't have such taxes for goods coming in.

Also while we are at it: for us Americans, foreign goods are significantly more expensive than what you guys pay for your local stuff as well... So... This is not just a single brand's problem.
 
Well I am glad I brought up the subject. Lots of differing and intelligent discourse. It's given me a lot to consider and think about. Thanks to all who spoke up with their opinion.
 
I honestly believe Spyderco sales would increase significantly in Europe if they manage to keep the selling price in line with the USA selling price.

How would that be possible with the local governments there grabbing what they do?
 
Sales taxes aren't *that* high as a %, but they are applied to what are anyway high retail prices. People in Europe buy Victorinox and Opinel because they are a fraction of the price, and unless that changes, Spyderco knives will remain niche products, rather than widely known and used tools.
 
Keep in mind some B&M store sell Spyderco knives for MORE than MSRP. One big outdoor store near me sells a few for about 20% more. I don't mind paying more than online retailers for the chance to handle a knife before I buy it, but marking them up from MSRP seems unreasonable.
 
I hadn't considered that mrsp dictates the prices that importers charge, here in the UK. I'd love a Stretch 2, but at the equivalent of 360 USD its never going to happen!
I don't think that's exactly what's happening. What I meant was that as far as I understand Spyderco won't sell directly to dealers in the UK, only to the distributor.
 
How would that be possible with the local governments there grabbing what they do?
Speaking of the UK, the applicable tax is VAT which is 20%. I think I'd be pretty happy if I could buy a US product at only 20% above the US selling price. However do you not have sales taxes as well? If so then presumably part of that US price would be sales tax, which shouldn't be levied on goods exported, and in turn should make the difference less than 20%.
 
Sales taxes aren't *that* high as a %, but they are applied to what are anyway high retail prices. People in Europe buy Victorinox and Opinel because they are a fraction of the price, and unless that changes, Spyderco knives will remain niche products, rather than widely known and used tools.
Opinels and SAKs sell for peanuts on this side of the Atlantic too and appeal to people here who'd never consider spending even the Amazon price of a Spyderco for a knife.

I don't think that's exactly what's happening. What I meant was that as far as I understand Spyderco won't sell directly to dealers in the UK, only to the distributor.
Who, I suspect, are paying the same price as distributors in the USA, although they probably do pay higher shipping costs. The taxes and other fees they are charged by their own governments may be based on MSRP, but I'm pretty sure that, if Spyderco lowered MSRP by 25% while keeping distributor cost the same, the retail prices charged by overseas dealers would not drop significantly.
 
Sales taxes are usually only collected on customers from the same state as the dealer is in. There are attempts that have been made by the federal government to collect taxes as well as some states such as mine ( NC) require me to report the sale and pay state taxes on it at tax filing time.

Eventually all internet sales will be taxed. The government feels that all money is theirs and sometimes it just takes time before they get their due. Bureaucracies don't get smaller and governments don't seem to ever lower taxes once they have been raised. The general rule is to go higher with taxes. Europe is mostly just further down the road than the US.

What you pay when purchasing from the US shouldn't have taxes attached until it gets on your side. Stores like Knifeworks has customers around the world and their name is well known to postal and custom officials worldwide. :)

joe
 
Eventually all internet sales will be taxed. The government feels that all money is theirs and sometimes it just takes time before they get their due. Bureaucracies don't get smaller and governments don't seem to ever lower taxes once they have been raised. The general rule is to go higher with taxes. Europe is mostly just further down the road than the US.

joe

yes quite true Joe, a case of "the bureaucracy expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy." :rolleyes::thumbdn:
 
Opinels and SAKs sell for peanuts on this side of the Atlantic too and appeal to people here who'd never consider spending even the Amazon price of a Spyderco for a knife.

Who, I suspect, are paying the same price as distributors in the USA, although they probably do pay higher shipping costs. The taxes and other fees they are charged by their own governments may be based on MSRP, but I'm pretty sure that, if Spyderco lowered MSRP by 25% while keeping distributor cost the same, the retail prices charged by overseas dealers would not drop significantly.

That's probably it. Limited sales due to high cost (or ill informed buying public!) only justifying a single distributor, who has to keep prices up to support them being there at all.
 
yes quite true Joe, a case of "the bureaucracy expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy."

I haven't heard it put that way but it's all too true. :)

Welcome to the Spyderco side of BF Petey.

Joe
 
IMHO, it's more a question of the internet perverting the normal supply chain by severely reducing "overhead", or removing it from the equation entirely.
I've heard a lot of claims about perversion on the internet, but that "perversion" of the "normal" supply chain is a concept called "just in time delivery". Inventory is to be eliminated as much as possible in the modern economy. The internet has simply adopted a common business practice.
 
The thing about "just in time" is that someone's got to do some real long range planning and there's no way to manage a consumer direct just in time without a massive warehouse of product. That real estate and that inventory costs huge.
 
Without being all too analytical it would appear as though msrp is double wholesale. I like this because it makes the math easier for me. When a new model comes out I know that with patience and due diligence that I can find that knife for really close to half of the msrp. I trust Spyderco and do not believe that this msrp is an arbitrary number based on what they think they can get for it but rather a calculated amount based on what it cost to make the knife. I am just happy that Spyderco does not enforce MAP pricing like many other knife manufacturers. If they did I wouldn't be able to find Spydies at really close to wholesale.
 
Back
Top